Soulhaven
by jcgonzo
Summary: Fire burns within Gao. Treachery during the trainees' final exam has set off a chain reaction, slowly building in momentum. chapter 9 up.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Basic disclaimer. I don't own Bleach, nor its characters, blah, blah, not trying to make a profit from the series, ect, ect. You know the drill.

Soulhaven (A Bleach Fanfiction)

There are four ways one can become a Shinigami.

The first is through the academy. Though perhaps the most tedious of the three paths, it is the most thorough- the arts of magic, hand-to-hand fighting and the all-important swordfighting styles are taught there, as are the laws and the customs of Soul Society as a whole. Here too is taught the emergency magic that is the second way to become a Shinigami- that of the power transfer. Though taught, it is ground into the candidate that such a drastic action is illegal in almost all circumstances.

There is also the Uruhara school- the most arduous and the most risky, as it is also the method in which Half-Hollows, and the Vizards, are created. Great power is bestowed upon the successful candidate- if they survive, and if they can overcome the madness inherent in such a dangerous method.

The fourth is almost unknown. The first Shinigami- the first to have mastered the art of soul-reaving, the first to have discovered the secrets of the Shikai and Bankai, and the first to dedicate her life to the recovery of those souls entrapped upon the Living Plane as well as the eradication of the Hollows that feast upon them- had no training, did not have a taint of Hollowness, and had no skill whatsoever in the demon arts.

She was human- and immortal.

There are only four other people in the world that knows of her- the Head Captain, Aizen the Fallen, and by sheer accident, two brothers, approximately two hours and thirty minutes from being freshly slain casualties of a Hollow raid.

Their names are Gao and Reiji Ikkuda.

Chapter One – Deathmarked

"Coming up next- the match we've all been waiting for!" yelled the announcer in embarrassingly overacted excitement. "Who could've ever doubted that these two would've ended up in the top slots- the Bokken Brothers themselves-"

"Oi, oi! Mr. Announcer Dude!" yelled a tall, almost willowy young kendo practitioner as he angrily yanked his helmet off. "It's our 16th birthday today- try to finish before we're 17, will ya? This isn't professional wrestling!"

"Ah, gomen, gomen." The announcer bowed apologetically. "As per Mr. Ikkuda's request- the match between brothers Gao and Reiji shall now begin!"

And not unlike in professional wrestling, it was but a short, negligent moment after the bell dinged that twin forces of violence converged in a dizzying fit of bamboo and motion.

-----

Hunger is all they know.

As Kurosaki Ichigo can attest, the name "Hollow" isn't merely just because they have a gaping hole in their chest. Theirs is more than a mere physical hollowness- as their body is, in fact, their soul warped and twisted, hollowness can be described as what they are- what their very existence is.

They hunger- their very nature makes fulfillment, makes wholeness, impossible except at the blade of a Soul Cutter.

However, they are not mindless beasts- not all of them. Driven mad, yes- simplistic in their desire and rage, perhaps. But not mindless. Behind that mask remains yet a fragment of the original human soul. Behind those terrifying fangs lies a cunning, wicked mind.

The Wolf Pack preys tonight.

"Ssss… many human spirits here, Kuro," hissed the echoing voice of a serpentine Hollow as it slithered around a lamppost, unseen by the humans by it.

"Yes. Some strong ones too- amateur kendo practitioners. I was one of them, before Death," growled the canine beast beneath the glare of the lights.

"A nice sssnack…"

"And no shinigami posted in this region. My brothers, are you ready?"

The growling of a dozen hungry souls affirmed.

-----

The tournament ended, the bruises and cuts patched up, and the contestants all eagerly looking forward to a good night's sleep. An otherwise perfectly ordinary night in an otherwise perfectly normal hotel.

"Augh… think you bruised a rib," moaned Gao as he gingerly probed an enormous bruise on his chest.

"Heh. Your fault. You left yourself open that time," said Gao's brother as he stepped out of the shower, not a scratch visible on him. "Besides, you won, didn'tcha?"

"Not sure it if was worth it…" winced Gao as he taped an ice pack on. "You broke the rib last year- this's gonna hurt for weeks!"

"Oh stop being such a baby. It's barely purple."

"Fine, fine- you wanna watch a movie? I heard we have AXN, and Tomoe said that-"

A bloodcurling scream. An immense, wall-caving explosion. A soul-shattering silence.

Blood.

-----

The stench of fear, death and pain permeated everything. The red haze of explosively heated blood did nothing to hide the eyes from the horrors of what had been the hotel, and from the travesty done upon its inhabitants.

It was exhilarating. It was arousing. It was a Hollow's playground.

Here and there, you could see the wisps of souls still lingering, blindsided by the shock of being torn from their bodies. Over there, the general manager, gaping at his own detached head. Up there, the screams of a girl as a sluglike Hollow consumed her inch by inch. Down by the floor passed a pair of fingers, floating on a stream of blood.

And everywhere there was fire. Everywhere there was smoke, and where there was smoke, there was greater carnage.

She smiled.

Time to hunt.

-----

Coughing. The air was thick- too thick. Even with the inexpicable red fog in the way- it felt more like he was drinking the air.

"Reiji…" moaned Gao as he clawed at the mist around him. "Reiji, where are you?"

The clinking of chains.

"Gao-kun…"

"Reiji, what happened? Where are you- I can't see anything…"

"Gao, I'm dead."

"Reiji, this's no time to joke around! I smell blood! People're-"

Reiji stepped through the fog- his foot not touching the ground. A thick chain poured out from his chest, clinking as he approached his brother.

"Gao, run. They're coming- the monsters. They're hungry. You're still alive. Run-"

"Too late."

Gao gaped, trapped like a deer in blazing, sunlike headlights as a monstrous shadow loomed over the brothers. Three great, looming, angular eyes leered down like a fierce demonic wargod, bloodlust shining clearly through the thick, red haze.

"Pitiful humans. Nothing more than snacks…"

Tendrils- tentacles both physical and ethereal- snared both brothers, living and dead.

"But snacks will do."


	2. Chapter 2 and 3

Chapter Two – Loyalty, Duty and Rage

She was never a hero. Rescuing souls and protecting the innocent from the ravages of the Hollows were never her thing.

She was just a warrior. A fighter. Ever since a Menos stepped on her village- stepped on it like it was nothing but a particularly large bug- her only reason for existence was to kill Hollows. Kill as many of them as she could before she died. And when she discovered that her sword- a gift from her grandfather, the village leader, and some say, the village's protector spirit made flesh- had a Name and a Face, she vowed to cleanse the land of them. And when the same Menos that crushed her family threatened to engulf and consume her, making her but another Hollow- another infinitesimally small part of that enormous black shadow- when she discovered that the Name and Face could be made a part of her, when she reached her Bankai, she vowed to eradicate all Hollows forever.

It didn't matter that she was alone- that she had gone half-mad in despair and at the impossibility of her task. It was all she had left- the only drive that kept her immortal body moving. The society of similar-thinking souls that she had run across- they no longer needed a mother figure. They had flourished, established a Heaven of a sort. She left it early on- left it to kill Hollows.

Nothing else mattered.

Her sword agreed.

-----

Oddly enough, Gao didn't scream. Oddly enough, his first instinct was not to run away- not to flee the unholy terror unraveling itself before his eyes.

His first instinct, to the great honor of his ancestral spirits, a thousand generations of samurai and warriors, was to grab his shinai and stab the beast in the eye.

Unsurprisingly, the shinai burst into flames at the touch of the Hollow's searing body. But it worked. Before he was forced to drop it, it had gone through, spraying hot, ethereal blood everywhere, coating the twin brothers in it.

And because of whatever metaphysical law stated that one cannot be readily affected by one's own powers, the blood protected them when the Hollow, surprised and in pain, erupted in a hail of fire.

"RUN!" screamed Gao as he tried to push Reiji aside, not even stopping to note that his hands were passing straight through his brother. "Run! It'll recover!"

"I… I can't." whispered Reiji. "My body, it's still-"

Gao lifted Reiji's prone body onto his shoulders, wincing as his bruised body protested loudly, and ran- or tried.

A sharp, talon-ended tentacle pierced his side.

"…damn."

-----

In time, she became as great a threat to Soul Society as the Hollows were. Her rampages and her constant use of her Bankai did more than slay Hollows- it shook the spiritual balance of the universe at its very core.

So they took her sword away. And used it as their executioner's tool.

Then she got another sword. And they took that one too- destroyed it, reducing it to their individual spiritrons.

Then she disappeared for a dozen millennia, and even the oldest of the spirits eventually forgot about her. Her name disappeared, the scrolls documenting her forgotten.

She forgot too- her name, that is. By that time, she had gone from half-mad to completely mad. An immortal, half-spirit barbarian knowing nothing but bloodthirst, frightening to the point that even Kenpachi looks utterly sane in comparison- after all, who doesn't like a little competition?

But to eat the very things she kills?

She's still worshipped in some circles. Kali is not an unknown name on her birth country- the Goddess of Death, they call her.

She hunts tonight.

-----

Fresh souls are a delicacy. Killing them heightens their fear as they transcend their mortal bodies, sweetens their flavor. And a Hollow is all about what it eats.

Boiling hot saliva poured out of its mouth, as wide as a Volkswagen Beetle, as it leered down upon its frightened, freshly slain prey. The child's psyche was broken, his brother's as well. Their pleas for mercy sweeter than bells.

He leapt.

He was shorn in half.

"My, my. A regenerator? How troublesome."

His two halves, both of them barely able to rear its head, were struck down again, reduced to quivering metaflesh.

The rest followed suit- or ran. Hollows don't stick around when Kali is in town. No morsel in the world is worth the taste of her fanged blades- no hunger so urgent as to risk being consumed by her sword.

Less than an hour later, she returned to the location of the first Hollow she killed, long dissipated.

"So, boys. You can come out."

They did, their chains clinking as they came out of their hiding place.

"You know," she said in amusement. "Hiding in the closet and under the bed only works if you don't have chains advertising your presence."

"W-we tried to pull them off, but it hurt and the chains were too thick…" mumbled Gao.

"Good thing, too. You would've turned into one of those monsters if you did," said Kali with a hungry look. "And I would've had to kill you."

"Those monsters were people?"

"No!" she snarled. "Never people. Not until they've been killed- again. They're monsters- mindless masses of hunger and rage. Nothing else."

She angrily turned around, ready to leave-

"Wait."

"What is it," she growled.

"Teach us," said Reiji.

She glanced back.

"Teach us. Teach us to kill them. W-we can't go home like this- we already tried calling for help, and nobody outside could see us. Only a cat- and what use is a cat?"

"Cats are dreadfully useful things, kid."

"So teach us. If we're already dead, then what do we have left?"

She turned to walk away again. "There'll be others- like me, but kinder. They'll bring out away. Hopefully before you turn into a Hollow."

"Wait, what!" yelled Gao as he jumped to his feet.

"You heard me. Souls that linger too long here turn into Hollows. Unless they're rescued by a Shinigami, but that sometimes takes years- if ever."

"Goddammit, what about you! Aren't you a 'death god?' You at least had the chance to save us, why didn't-"

"Hollows are more challenging to kill when they're in a blood frenzy," she said chillingly. "More fun that way."

"M-more fun- YOU BITCH!"

A stinging slap across Gao's cheek, and he fell back onto the floor.

"Excuse my brother," said Reiji softly. "But he is right. You have an obligation to aid us- you refused to help us while we were living, so you have to help us while we're dead. We don't want to be Hollows."

"Pfft. Obligations? I have no obligations- and refuse to accept any."

A hard glint came over Reiji's eyes. "Then I'll have to fight you. If you won't help us, you're here to harm us- even more than the Hollows did." He stood up, straight of back despite the heavy chain on his chest.

"Back away, boy," Kali said softly. "You'll get hurt."

"I'm dead. What's pain to a dead man?" He moved- and Gao attacked.

-----

A black eye, two chipped teeth, and a bruised ego.

Kali still doesn't know why she held back- why, after millennia of nothing but anger, she took pity on these two particular boys. They weren't the first to have stood up to her, and it only means more trouble. More complexities.

Maybe because she was not unlike them, so long ago the numbers were meaningless. Maybe because after millennia of killing, she's starting to feel time creeping up. Immortality was a sham- she merely takes longer to die than most. And the scars were starting to hurt with the coming of the Japanese winter.

But a black eye, two chipped teeth and a bruised ego from each of the twins were not what she would call payment for lessons in the art of Hollow-hunting…

Chapter Three – Mastery and Vengeance

Fifteen years is a short time in soul society. Fifteen years is barely the time it takes for an unusually bright soul to graduate from the shinigami academy- and in a career that could last millennia, that's almost no time at all.

It's a long time in the real world. Fifteen years changes a lot of things. People grow up. People grow old. Friends are lost, made, and lost again.

People fall in love. People marry. People have children.

When you're a shinigami on permanent duty Earthside, it's a bit depressing to realize that such a life's not for you.

"Uncle Ichi! Uncle Ichi! Pick me up!" yelled a mob of toddlers as they tugged on Ichigo's jeans, laughing and screaming in delight as he swooped down and lifted all five of them up in an enormous embrace.

Then again, playing with your friends' children does well to cheer one up.

"Ichigo," yelled Chad, somehow making even his yelling sound stoic and matter-of-fact. "The barbeque's ready."

"Oi, save me a burger!" yelled Ichigo as he stumbled towards the park's benches. "Ishida, Orihime! Mind helping me? Your kids get heavier every year!"

The eternally bubbly- and bosomed- mother figure of their little group laughed as she chased down her youngest- a speed demon on all fours, despite her mere year of age. "Be right with you! Ishi-kun, mind helping Ichigo?"

Ishida didn't even look up from his newspaper as he flipped two kids onto his shoulders and walked off.

"Hey, you showoff!" as Ichigo ran to catch up. "They're your kids!"

"And you're their godfather. Get used to it."

"Gah, you ba-"

"Language. The kids."

"ARGH."

It was going to be a fun day.

-----

Fifteen years of training around the world is not the worst way one can spend one's time, though Reiji to himself as he diced a snakelike Hollow into bits before leaping back and planting a foot through another's eye before finishing it off. The jungles of the Amazon might not have a strong human presence, but the few Hollows that appear here make for a good challenge.

From the looks of his mentor and brother, each in a state of blood-driven rapture, they would agree.

"That's the last of 'em," said Gao with a tight grin as he flicked his dagger clean of blood. "At least for the next five years anyhow. Kali-sama, you sense any?"

"If you don't, then neither do I," said Kali with a singsong voice. "I heard there's going to be a Hollow raid back in Japan. What do you boys think?"

Reiji grinned. They were going home.

-----

"Oi! Kisuke-san!" yelled a tall, unshaven giant as he banged on the shop's door. "Oi!"

"Man, Kurosaki, you really need to wake up later," grumbled Uruhara as he slid his shop's door open. "What is it this time?"

"We're out of bandaids. Sado-kun got run over by a car again."

"Again? Sheesh. Well, come on in. I'll see if we have any left."

"Heh, thanks."

Fifteen minutes into rummaging through the many, badly-labeled boxes, and Uruhara'd dug out a fresh batch of bandaids. "So… why're you really here? I know that Sado's already home- he came by later to say hi."

Isshin shrugged. "The kid's accident-prone. He's going to need those bandaids again when the wounds open."

"…oh, is it today?"

Isshin looked at the calendar mounted on the wall, and looked away.

"You still miss her, don't you?" said Uruhara quietly. "Mm. Alright. Give your son my regards- and Rukia's letter."

Isshin nodded. "He's been worried about her. Mind telling her to visit some time? The boy's getting moody."

"Eh, sure thing."

Isshin walked out.

"By the way, Aizen's been sighted again," said Uruhara as he grabbed his hat and broom, getting ready to clean the shop up.

Isshing kept on walking.

"I know."

-----

The days are for fun, laughter and mischief.

The nights are of adrenaline-pumping, exhilaratingly delirious fits of terror.

Hollow attacks were easily increasing- to the point that Soul Society had deigned it fit to establish a fourteenth squadron of shinigami, under Ichigo's command. They were mostly misfits and outcasts… but they did their job.

And they were dying off. One by one. Temporary, yes- death on Earth means a return to Soul Society in one form or another, but it was crippling, and it was demoralizing.

Something was in the air. Fear. And all that entails.

"Oi! Third chair!" yelled Ichigo as Zangetsu plowed through the thick neck of a Hollow. "Watch your back- there's a Shadow-based one somewhere here!"

"Got it, Captain!" yelled what appeared to be a giant afro affixed on a dwarf just before he released his shikai, and melded into the shadows himself.

"Ishida," said Ichigo as he tapped his headset- a gift to the squadron from Kisuke Uruhara. "We're gonna need air support- two flyers headed southward."

"No they're not."

Two streaks of light.

"Great, thanks. Tell Orihime that we've got two injured on Saffron Avenue- Dad! What're you doing here?"

Isshin Kurosaki waved from atop a roof.

"Ichigo, over there!"

The moon gleamed, warped, and tore. Menos Grande loomed as a thousand Hollows descended upon the shinigami, talons, teeth and tentacles reaching out.

"BAN-"

"BANKAI!"

"K- what?"

A great, midnight blue phoenix rose up from the treelines, and struck the Menos straight in the mask, pushing it back dozens of meters before it stopped and howled. All Hollows in its path- a good two-thirds of it- were incinerated in the process.

A blizzard of ashes blew into Ichigo's face as he rushed to the phoenix's originating path, ducking out of the way as columns of fire poured down from the great firebird's clash with the towering monstrosity.

"Ishida!" he cried out. "What happened! Who was that!"

"Not one of ours!" answered the Quincy tersely. "It originated from Ryoko's block!"

"Ryoko!"

Static.

"Ryoko, dammit!"

"If she isn't dead, she's unconscious from the blast," said Isshin as he caught up to his son. "You finish off the Menos and whatever's left of the Hollows. I'll go scout ahead."

"You're gonna be alright?" asked Ichigo as he drew his sword.

"As alright as I'll ever be. Rukia sent a letter, by the way. Try to stay alive."

"Heh. Will do."

-----

"Kali-sama! Everything alright?" asked Gao as he slashed apart a large, shapeless Hollow, twin katars flickering in the steely moonlight. He glanced back and grimaced- his mentor's Bankai required intense concentration to control- the very nature of a firebird is chaotic, and though its final stage- that of a suicidal explosion- was a potent attack, it's also one that leaves the user most vulnerable. Even more so than focusing all of one's mental energy to harness the bloody bird.

"Just keep the damned Hollows off my back," said Kali through clenched teeth as the Menos slashed at the phoenix's wings. "I'll be done in a second."

"Gao, keep your eye on your enemy. You're just distracting her," said Reiji coolly as he kicked a dead Hollow off his more traditional katana. "Also, they're getting too numerous. Time for shikai?"

"Bah. What a waste on these punks."

"Those punks're about fifteen minutes from overwhelming us."

"Fine, fine. Shikai it is. Howl, Snow Fox!"

"Roar, Winter's Moon!"

Time slowed. Light twisted. And in the space of ten seconds, there was a good fifteen meters of bloodstained space around Kali; nothing but quivering bits of Hollow flesh to keep her company in her struggle.

Then again, the struggle was minor. With a great cry, the phoenix tore through, shattered the Menos's mask in half and engulfed its head in searing flames. When it disappeared itself, there was naught but a bloody stump of ashes.

Ichigo was almost disappointed. This was the second time in less than thirty minutes his own Bankai was preempted.

"Oi! Shinigami, eight o'clock!" yelled Gao as his katars flickered back to normal. "Reiji, Kali, let's get going!"

"Mm, I don't think so," said a voice behind Gao, a viselike hand seizing his shirt upwards.

"…ack."

"But I do," said Reiji as he also appeared behind them- a katana at Isshin's neck. "Let go of my brother."

"Oh, brothers. We've heard of you- unauthorized Hollow hunting. Quite a few civilian- and shinigami- casualties along the way. The Council appointed two teams to hunt you guys down, and both died along the way."

"So you know we won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way."

"Hey, boys, hurry up and take care of the old man already," said Kali as she stepped into view, breathing slightly heavily. "We're lingering too long."

"Yo, Mom. You alright?" said Gao, waving cheerily despite being effectively held hostage.

"Good enough. Hurry up- I need a bath."

"Gotcha. Hey, Mr. Shinigami? We'll be nice and let you live today- ta-ta!"

An intense flare of spiritual pressure distracted Isshin long enough for Gao to flick his katars across the elder man's forearms.

Invisible ice crept over the elder shinigami, locking his joints and muscles as he looked helplessly as the three ran away.

-----

"Jeez, Dad, you gotta be more careful!" snapped Ichigo as poured warm water into the bucket the elder Kurosaki was warming his feet in. "Kon, get another blanket! Man, what'd he hit you with, a blizzard?"

"W-worse," said Isshin. "N-not just the cold. Time."

"Huh?"

"I-t's more than ice. H-he got faster as I got s-slower."

"Who were they, anyhow?" asked Ishida as he came out of the kitchen with a pot of fish and miso soup. "They had shinigami abilities, but didn't look the part."

"Ah, thank you," said Isshin, taking a long gulp. "They're renegades- nobody knows where they got their abilities, not even Uruhara-san. Or why they have them. The First Captain said that he recognized the woman, the one they called 'Mom,' and has been digging through the old archives for months now. There've been rumors, but…"

"Rumors're better than nothing."

"Hm. Well, the first can be dismissed. Ichigo should've probably expected it- some think they're renegade Vizards, though the group denies any involvement with their actions. Then there're the faction that believe that Aizen's back to his old tricks again. Their attack patterns would suggest otherwise- they're more liable to attack Hollows than shinigami, and only now have they been spotted in Japan. They didn't even stop to talk to Ichigo, so we can dismiss that almost immediately."

"Maybe somebody else's trying to copy Aizen's work for himself. Power lust amongst shinigami isn't that uncommon."

Ichigo glared at his third seat. "Maybe, but Uruhara made only one of those devices."

"You didn't need it to get your powers back, did you?"

"…good point."

"Tsk," said Isshin. "This's all speculation anyhow. We'll just have to apprehend them and have one of the medicals drug them up for more information."

"Yo, Dad," said Ichigo curiously.

"Hrm?"

"You alright? You've been serious for the last two hours or so."

Silence.

"…y-you do care! Oh, my SON!"

"ARGH!"

"…I'll just leave you two alone then," said Ishida, getting out of the way of the hugfest.


	3. Chapter 4

Chapter Four – Bitter Rains

It was pouring outside.

The rain's always had a certain significance to Ichigo. For one, Zangetsu hates rain- hates the melancholy waters that pours within Ichigo's soul whenever despair or its ilk settles in. Water also has undercurrents of death- true death- for Ichigo, as his first, bitter taste of defeat was at Byakuya's feet, his face half-buried in the soggy mud of that terrible, stormy night.

It was pouring outside, and boy did he hate it.

"Got nothing but paperwork to keep me company…" he growled under his breath as he sank a knuckle into a thick bundle of triplicated forms. His day job as a dojo trainer was plenty more fun than this- too bad a captain has his duties.

"I can help you," said Chad as he looked up from his manga. "You don't have to do it alone, you know."

"Bah. You did it last week. It's my turn," said Ichigo as he drew up the willpower to tackle the ever-growing mound again. "Dammit, if I knew fighting a Menos would mean this much trouble for a captain…"

"You'd kill it anyhow, and complain later."

"…well, yeah. Duh. Still-."

"Oi! Ichigo!" yelled Isshin from downstairs of the house. "Dinner's ready!"

"Ah, finally. A break. Chad, let's go down," invited Ichigo as he tossed his pen into a cup and leapt over the desk.

"Thanks."

Ichigo eagerly rushed downstairs… and paused mid-stride at the scene of half-burned rice, what seemed to be shapeless, vaguely tentacled bits of sausages and half-cooked greens.

"Hey, Ichi!" said Karin. "Rukia came, and made dinner for us!" There was just the slightest hint of accusation in her voice.

"Oh… uh… hi, Rukia-san."

"Hey, Ichigo!" said Rukia cheerfully as she stuck her head out of the kitchen door. "Your sister offered to teach me how to cook!"

"…how… nice…"

To everybody's relief, dinner was edible.

-----

"Pretty heavy rain out there," said Rukia as she looked out Ichigo's bedroom window.

"Yeah. Tropical storm. Some area's lost power already." Ichigo was leaning on his desk, carefully ignoring the pile of unfinished paperwork behind him. Chad had his nose stuck back in the manga.

"Hey, the Court's going to hold the annual captain's meeting in three days. You going to attend?"

"Tch. How troublesome."

"Your dad could always take up your job- he is your vice-captain, after all."

"Meh. And trust my old man not to make tutus part of the standard squadron uniform? Again?"

"…so you don't want to go."

"…never said that."

They were startled as a deep cough interrupted them. Ichigo turned around, and glared at Chad, who had one eyebrow raised at them.

"You two want some time alone?"

Rukia blushed.

"…alright, don't make too much noise. Your sisters're asleep, Ichigo."

"…he catches me off-guard for some reason," she said as Chad left the room. "And I know he wasn't like this before."

Ichigo grinned. "Yeah. He's changed a bit. Did you know he's going out with somebody now?"

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah! Tatsuki, of all people. I've never seen him more mellow- or her happier."

"Mm. I'm glad for them."

Fingers kissed almost shyly.

"I missed you."

"I know."

-----

Ichigo yawned- and got nudged painfully in the side by Renji.

"C'mon, man, show the old man some respect," whispered the red-haired vice-captain tersely. Byakuya glanced coldly at the pair- his eyes making up for the lack of words from his mouth.

"Sorry, sorry. Been up all night finishing the paperwork."

"Ah, I heard about that Menos. My sympathies."

"Ah-hem!" exclaimed the First Captain, annoyed at the interruption. "As I was saying, Kurosaki, we found more information on that trio you ran into that night, and you damn well better appreciate the effort. The only mentioning of 'Kali,' the Hindu Goddess of Death, in our records happens to lie in the original Scroll of Origins."

"…what?"

"Oh for the love of- Soi Fong, you can explain. Buncha bloody overgrown…"

Soi Fong glared daggers at the two before settling into her report. "As those who had graduated from the Academy knows, Soul Society's shinigami started out early on in mankind's history as a disorganized rabble of human sorcerors and warriors with no communication and no cultural links with each other. There has been numerous stories where two shinigami had ended up killing each other, manipulated carefully by a Hollow aware of both's cultural bias. It wasn't until a shinigami from India and one from Japan got together and forged a formal alliance that the seeds of the modern shinigami history was planted. The Japanese founder's history is known to us- the women isn't. It appears that she had gone mad not long afterwards, and was banished from Soul Society upon its five hundredth anniversary."

"…so she founded the shinigami?" asked Ichigo. "Why didn't anybody know who she was then? You'd think she'd be pretty famous."

Soi Fong gave him an annoyed look. "Our history is a long one, Kurosaki. Many of our oldest records, despite the efforts of our archivists, have long decayed 'til they are unreadable. She's outlived most of our oldest, more venerable souls, and those that remain are either just barely too young to know that much about her, or have become… part of the overall structure of Soul Society."

"Bah," said Yamamoto, First Captain. "I remember her- took a while to dredge it up, though. I was fourth seat of the first established squadron then. She was a madwoman, alright- she didn't care about the people she saved or killed along the way. She only wanted to hunt Hollows."

"Mm. Sounds like my kind of woman," said Kenpachi with a leer.

"She also ate their flesh. Believed that by consuming them, she could gain some sort of insight or knowledge of them- the better to hunt them, you see."

"…blech."

"My thoughts exactly. During one of her bloodfrenzies, she tried to eat a fallen shinigami as well- that was what got her kicked out."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it was the same woman? The two twins with her- they called her 'Mom,' and as far as I could tell, they're sane. Just…"

"Vicious. Ruthless. Coldhearted. Yes, just as how I remembered her before she got kicked out. You all know of the Vizards, right? They're even more unstable- the original process to create a shinigami takes a human soul not yet departed from the world, and twists them in a fashion not unlike how Hollows are made."

Ichigo shuddered as he remembered his own process. "Like Urahara's Shattered Pit method?"

"Bah. The Shattered Pit's perfectly safe in comparison- probably is as well, considering that Urahara didn't even let you reach that level of training until he was sure you had the spiritual stamina for it.

No, the original method completely destroys the soul, and rebuilds it from the ground up. Slowly, painfully- not for the builder, but for the soul that was shattered. And most of the time, all you get is another Hollow. The fact that Kali managed to make two proto-shinigami speaks well of their own strength, not to mention her own."

"…sounds like a good fight," said Kenpachi eagerly, the bells in his hair ringing ominously. "You want us to catch them?"

"Mm, perhaps not. Hollow activity's been increasing rapidly for the last half-year, especially in the Japan area. As long as they don't cause casualties, they could prove useful- especially to you, Kurosaki," said the old man, meaningfully tapping a thick stack of paper. "How does less paperwork sound to you?"

Ichigo eyed him. "I'm not sure. They're still dangerous- and that bankai of hers completely ruined the park. Almost killed a hobo or two from what the hospitals reported, and Ryoko's still healing to boot."

Yamamoto nodded. "I understand your concern, but we'll have to be lenient. The other teams are locked up to the point that we're more likely to ask your squadron for aid than vice versa. If they do cause trouble- then contact us again. But if all they're doing is hunting Hollows, just try to warn them to keep an eye on the damage they cause."

Ichigo sighed. "Alright, I suppose that's the best we can do."

"Good. Captains, dismissed."

-----

Training is, of course, an absolute necessity for any warrior. How one trains, however, is completely up to personal reference.

Kali's method of training involves far, far too many life-and-death situations. Forcing the brothers to try and kill each other is but the kindest of methods she's used on them. It was, however, undoubtly successful- both were superb warriors, even while they were alive, and the constant dabbling with weaponry until their truest, most natural form's emerged was an innovation Kali was particularly proud of. The brothers've gotten to the point that they're capable of landing a few blows on even her- painful blows at that.

There was, however, a drawback.

To gain Shikai and Bankai level seal releases, a shinigami's required to be able to not only dredge up his weapon's consciousness, but ally himself with it. In most cases, it only takes a few months of hard training to gain Shikai- and ten years for Bankai, as making the sword submit to your will's a lot harder than "merely" talking to it. Kali's training is one of self-dependence- even if they were to gain their soul-cutter, a difficult task requiring fifteen nights of meditation and soul-searing drills, there's no guarantee that they'll be able to reach even Shikai. No guarantee that they'll be able to cooperate with their sword.

But they did. Six years of the hardest training imaginable, but it paid off. Six years of killing everything from a newly born Hollow to a harrowing encounter with one of Aizen's discarded experiments- still far, far too powerful- and they finally Knew their swords' names.

Silver streaks clashed in ringing, bell-like tones as Reijis- five of them- circled Gao, flickering in and out of his vision as blood dripped off the serrated edge of Gao's katars- Indian punching daggers, with half of the arrowheaded blade sweeping down a foot across his outer forearms, sapphire foxheads glinting like a polished Hollow's Mask on the flat of each of the two blades. Gao twisted- and was barely able to bring his blades up in time to catch an enormous no-tachi from splitting him down the middle.

"You're getting slow!" snarled Gao as a surge of ice locked the giant sword onto one katar, the other stabbing at Reiji's midsection- and passing through yet another illusion. "DAMMIT!"

Reiji tapped his brother on the shoulder from behind- and slugged him across the jaw. "Nice catch there."

"Bah," spat Gao, a small dribble of blood coming out from the corner of his lips. "Hate your damned illusions. How much energy did you put into that one? The blade felt real."

Reiji waved a normal katana around. "Most of it. Only enough to finish you off. What's the record now."

Gao mumbled angrily.

"What?"

"Fifteen to four, alright! Stop rubbing it in!"

"Heh. You seemed pissed."

Gao's katars shortened and faded into a dull, matte-black. "Yeah, I am. I… saw Them today, while buying groceries."

Reiji looked at his brother quizzically, and sheathed his sword. "Ah. Mom and Dad. I'm sorry."

"Meh. Whatever. It's been fifteen years- they wouldn't recognize us anyhow."

Reiji patted Gao on the shoulder. "They would've been proud of us. Not too many parents can claim their sons are monster killers."

"Not too many parents can claim that their sons are half-monsters either."

Lightning crackled outside of the abandoned apartment complex they were hiding out in. Heavy rain sloshed over the town as the howl of lost souls echoed through the night.

-----

Lightning crackled, attracted to the proud, tall tower, its thunder just barely muffling the loud, tortured screams of a thousand mutilated monsters.

Aizen smiled, the sharp scent of ozone like perfume to his sense of smell. Power, strength, inevitability- all were characteristics of the storm. All were a part of what he sought- dominion over all.

"Kali," he said, not bothering to turn from the window of his tower. "Good to see you. How are your surrogate sons?"

"Angsty. If they had lived, they would be in their mid-thirties, but you know as well as I that time works differently for the dead. They still feel the echoes of their childhood." Kali faded into sight from the shadows of the room, a quizzical expression on her face as she examined the ex-shinigami captain before her. "You sought me out. What is it you wish to discuss?"

"Power, of course. As was the last time we met. The Gotei 13 had managed to… delay… my ambitions."

Kali shrugged. "I have nothing more to offer you- you promised to control your creations around my subordinates, yet Gao nearly died on that stormy August. I have more than my own skin to be worried about now, after all."

"Ah, yes, and what a change it has wrought on you," murmured Aizen. "Tell me, do you miss the freedom of the Frenzy? My agents have noted that it's been over fifteen years since you last fed-"

A dagger flew out, embedding itself into the wall next to Aizen's left ear.

"You tread on dangerous grounds," said Kali softly as she faded back into the shadows.

"When have I not?" asked Aizen to the emptiness around himself.

The rain poured down over the Hollows' realm like a hail of nails, carving through the ground in its ferocity. A man's spirit howled, his voice turning rasp and echoing as Hollow's teeth tore through his chest.

The storm was gathering.


	4. Chapter 5

Chapter Five – Harmonic Discord, pt. 1

Once, hundreds of years ago, if one were to ask Gin why he chose to be a Shinigami, he would've lied.

He would've denied it even to himself- to suggest that it was the powers and utter control one has over one's environment as the root cause of his signing up is not something you readily admit. He's always known he would reach the ranks of the Captains- for the first few dozen years of his career, he simply believed that it was going to be based solely on his merit.

Then he ran into Aizen.

These days, nobody asks him about anything- they merely flee in terror as that unholy leer bears down on them, a sharp blade sweeping the life out of his enemies like a scythe through a field of harmless wheat.

He joined because drawing blood- having total control over another creature's fate- is the most pleasant ways to pass the time he's ever indulged in. Of all the hedonistic pleasures Gin's run across, nothing quite matches up to making another living creature beg for mercy.

Nothing at all.

"Let's try that again…" said Gin smoothly as his foxlike smile beamed down upon a woman half-turned into a Hollow, a giant, writhing mask slowly consuming her face. He pulled out a needle full of a green, viscous liquid, and caressed the woman's collarbone- a seemingly gentle action turned horrific by how the flesh where the needle made contact flayed open and blackened.

She screamed, and the mask laughed.

-----

Reiji couldn't sleep.

It wasn't the storm- he's slept straight through an earthquake before. And a flood. And a few stampedes- that wasn't the best sleep ever, but he slept.

The more… relaxed of the twins almost never finds himself with insomnia. When he does, it means trouble.

Reiji listened carefully, years of training translating itself into a pair of extremely sharp ears. His brother was still asleep. Kali was still gone on whatever errand occupied her tonight.

He slipped away, quietly fading through the walls and out into the street. A few moments later, a rain-drenched ronin could be found on the path to a certain shop run by a certain shinigami.

-----

"ICHIGO! FIGHT ME!" roared Kenpachi.

"HiRukiahiRenjilunchtodayrightokayseeya!" said Ichigo breathlessly as he ran by the two, doubled back, ducked through a doorway, and just barely escaped a rampaging Kenpachi.

The two old friends blinked.

"That was odd," said Rukia.

"No, not really. Kenpachi's been tracking Ichigo down ever since he came back," said Renji with a snort. "Wanted to show off his Shikai."

Rukia spat out the milk tea she was sipping. "WHAT! Zakari-san's managed to gain Shikai!"

"Yeah. The damnable bastard wiped out almost all of Sector 80 while doing so- didn't you hear the fireworks last week?"

"I was… visiting Ichigo."

Renji raised an eyebrow, silently inquiring. Rukia replied in kind- a mad "leave me alone" look and brightly colored cheeks.

-----

"Urahara-san."

"Bwuh! Wha! AH!"

Kisuke Urahara- wacky, cheerful, and lethal beyond description- fell most ungraciously out of his bed.

"Gah! Reiji-san, don't do that! You ruined a perfectly good dream!"

Reiji smirked, and helped the elder shinigami up. "Yorouichi's coming back next week, isn't she? Reality's better than dreams, ne?"

Urahara glared at him, and stuffed his hat on. "Alright, now that you got me awake, what do you need?"

"First, a bottle of sake- strong as you have it. Second… well, sake first."

Urahara raised an eyebrow. "This sounds… interesting."

-----

Gao blinked. The sun was up, and the rain had stopped. The smell of fresh bread was in astonishingly close proximity.

"Oi, eat it before it gets cold," said Reiji as he chewed on a coffee cream bun.

"Ooh, red bean pastry! Thanks!"

"No problem. Kali's not back yet, by the way."

"Probably- mmph, this's good- won't be for a few weeks. Like the last few times."

Reiji looked out the window. "Wonder what she's up to?"

Gao glanced out, face full of pastry. "Hollow hunting. Either that, or finding information about a possible Hollow outbreak. As usual. Why're you concerned? She can take care of herself."

"Meh, fine. Wanna spar again?"

"Do I!"

-----

Urahara hummed as he got to work, enormous, trailer-sized blocks of granite following close behind him as his assistant did the grunt work. Slapping on a dozen assorted soul seals doesn't seem much like hard work- unless you could detect the enormous amount of spiritual energy they were being infused with.

Any lesser mortal would've died from sheer exhaustion five hundred seals back. But Urahara was dead long ago. And there were six hundred and fifty more to do before he was done.

It's hard work, you know. Not a lot of people have the resources necessary to forge bridges between worlds- even if they knew how to in the first place.

-----

"Oi, Gao," panted Reiji as he took a break, medicinal herbs slowly stitching together his torn flesh. "'nuff sparring today?"

Gao, also panting from exertion and multiple near-fatal wounds, grinned at his brother. "Barely lunchtime! You already giving up?"

"No, actually. Just tired of cleaning the floor with your ass," scoffed Reiji. "Thought we might go hunting instead."

Gao blinked, looked out, and blinked again. "It's not nighttime, you dope. Hollows almost never attack in broad daylight- the sun blinds them."

"I know. Elsewhere, I mean. I heard the Seireitai's been under siege for these last few years- Hollows everywhere in their forests, man."

Gao raised an eyebrow at his brother. "How? We're not Shinigami- we don't have any way to cross that barrier."

"Found a guy. Willing to help us." With the last wisp of smoke, the last of his wounds were knit shut, not even a scar left to bear witness to the savagery of their training.

"What about Kali?"

"What about her?"

"Man, stop being so cryptic! I know you're planning something!"

Reiji grinned at his brother. "Why does she need to know? She's going to be gone for a while herself, and frankly, we have no reason to wait for her like we do. C'mon, I'm getting stale just fighting you all the time."

Gao frowned. Well, why not?

-----

Kuchiki Byakuya's bemused expression was an oddity- the slight grin, tightened eyes and the subtle clues that he was desperately trying to hold back a tide of laughter was an extremely unusual look on the otherwise stoic prince of ice and sakura petals.

It was making Ichigo absurdly nervous.

"S-so say something already!" said Ichigo, just a touch frantic.

"You really think you deserve this."

Ichigo glared defiantly. "Considering my track record, it's not as if there'll be any shame smeared upon the Kuchiki name."

"Nonetheless, a mere commoner-"

"Hey! Hardly a 'mere commoner!' Give me a little credit- not even the 11th division's chopped down so many Menos and lived to-"

"-rude, uncouth, impulsive, and probably severely lacking in personal hygiene-"

"…now that's just plain insulting."

"Oi," interrupted Renji as he came in with a pile of paperwork in his arms. "Kuchiki-san, just get it over with. You already had me work out her paperwork anyhow, and Ichigo's in charge of the party preparations anyhow."

If looks could kill, Byakuya would be short one vice-captain right about now.

"…very well. Kurosaki Ichigo, I accept your proposal. From this day forth, Kuchiki Rukia shall…"

-----

Two regular shinigami would've probably died long ago, trying to literally push back the Menos-sized mole Hollow.

Two regular shinigami wouldn't have had the advantage of being introduced to certain… interesting… branches of medicine.

If this was baseball, Reiji and Gao would've been banned for life long, long ago- and Kali, too, for supplying them.

"Augh," winced Gao as his spiritual pressure faltered. "Withdrawal. Out of pills! Got anymore?"

"Only two!" yelled Reiji as another swarm of demi-hollows threatened to engulf him, his sword flickering through their mass as he struck another deep gash across the mole's sightless face, a gout of black blood spraying outwards. "Catch!"

A black pill found itself flying through the air, towards Gao's outstretched hands… and intercepted by another.

Kali glared out from beyond a rift in the air, one long, leather-clad leg stepping through at a time.

"What exactly… do you two think you're doing?" she snarled, eyes flickering dangerously between the twins.

A spasmodic, horrifying release of energy. A deep, gravel-torn voice.

"Yes… what are you three doing here?" said Zakari Kenpachi, 11th Division Captain, his enormous frame looming down from above the freshly slain mole with a slight, bloodstained leer.

A storm crackled over the Seireitai.


	5. Chapter 6

Chapter Six – Harmonic Discord, pt 2

Age is… flexible, when you reside in Soul Society. The traits one usually adheres to the passing of time are instead altered depending on a number of arguably more important factors. One's maturity- spiritual power- worldview. All have a much greater role that mere time.

In Captain Yamamoto's case, his sheer age does become a factor, but not, perhaps, as much as his overwhelming strength. Hitsugaya Toushirou, on the other hand, still has plenty of innate naivety and a few image-based insecurities to deal with.

As for Zakari Yachiru, formally adopted daughter of Captain Zakari Kenpachi? Despite the aging- rapid aging- she's done in the fifteen-odd years since the Seireitai was first invaded by a brash, orange-headed rogue shinigami and his allies, she remains her daddy's girl. Even keeps her perch on his massive shoulders- though when he needs the speed, she gladly removes her still-petite weight from it.

Unfortunately for the vice captain, Soul Society law does dictate that, given a certain overall maturity, she legally has to attend the Academy. Even if her kill count of Hollows've nearly bypassed that of the third and fourth seats combined- all of the third and fourth seats.

So it was with great pain and disappointment to her when loud, thunderous explosions rocked the entirety of the Society… and she was forced to stay cooped in a classroom, studying the fundamental aspects of reiatsu-channeling instead of going out there to kick ass and take names.

Ah well. She could always flirt with the upperclassmen later- though, given how often Kenpachi's been visiting the medical division for heart medication, she might want to tone it down a bit…

-----

The thunderous roar of blinding-hot, fused plasma striking the earth and carving out a ten-meter wide crater in a flash of heated rock and dirt shook the very foundation of the outer districts, causing even the larger Hollows out hunting to seek shelter.

Unlike Kali, they actually have a sense of self-preservation. Then again, unlike her, they were actually impressed by the pyrotechnics.

"Flashy shikai of yours," she said, barely glancing at the disappeared forms of Reiji and Gao, herself on the very lip of the crater. "Base Spiritrons heated and fused until they start forming new particles, then magnetically focused into a hypervelocity lance."

"That's what they tell me," said Kenpachi, still grinning through the sulfurous smoke. "Don't understand half of it myself. All I know is that Amaterasu-chan really likes a good barbeque. Your kids are quick."

"They better be. I plan to kill them myself later."

"Oh? Don't go making any plans-"

Sudden, flaring stars in the bright blue sky. Between one instance and the next, five roaring gouts of unimaginably hot heat struck around and over Kali, smiting over a quarter-kilometer of the landscape into red-hot glass.

The smoke cleared, and Kenpachi had locked blades with Kali.

"-'cuz I'm not done yet."

Kali glared as she pressed on, forcing a surprised Kenpachi onto his knees. "You're a hundred thousand years too early to beat me, shinigami."

With a great surge of effort, Kenpachi rose and knocked Kali back five feet. "We'll see about that. AMATERASU! FLARE!"

-----

"That… was not pleasant," breathed Gao as he stopped at the base of a twisted, half-dead tree for breath. "Why… are we running again?"

Reiji waved, indicating that he was too out of breath to answer. Gao kicked him in response.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?"

"You can talk now, can't you?"

Reiji glared at his twin. "Yeah, fine. Remember Dad?"

"…okay, the conversation hasn't even started yet, and I'm already lost. What about Dad?"

"He was a police officer, remember? We used to look up to him so much- and we had a bet going on as to who would become police chief first."

"Oh, yeah. I remember. I offered up my autographed baseball, and you had that genuine- but carefully blunted- katana dad gave you for your fourteenth birthday."

"Here, we're dead. The bet's off."

"Uh… okay. Thanks?"

"So we'll make a new one. Whomever gets to be a Shinigami Captain first buys the other as much sashimi as he can possibly wish to eat for a lifetime!"

"…b-but wait! We can't die after we die- I mean, we're- AH! WAIT UP!"

Reiji snickered as he disappeared deeper into the forest. Even his brother's yelling- no doubt attracting all sorts of attention by now- would only aid him further.

It was time to cast off Kali's chains.

-----

"Huh. Kenpachi hasn't been back for a while," noted Ichigo as he helped Yachiru carefully lay an enormous cake onto a tray. "He'd usually stomp in drunk by now and threaten my life. Again."

Yachiru giggled as she laid the cream gently on the cake's sugared surface. "You should really take him up on his offer, yanno. He's getting even moodier recently."

"…that is a deeply, deeply disturbing thought."

"Awww… he's really a softie, yanno. Just likes blood and such- and who doesn't?"

Ichigo glared at the pink-haired teenager. "You were raised by him. You're in no way objective when it comes to blood, guts and chaos. Tell me, how many kids did you send to the infirmary this week?"

"Can you believe I didn't send any? Class's so boring now… When're you gonna marry her?"

Ichigo coughed. "What?"

"Hey now, it's general knowledge that she pretty much spends her entire time in your bed when she comes to the human world to visit."

"What! Have you guys been spying on us? Again!"

Yachiru grinned. "Ikkaku made me promise not to name any names. So I won't."

"Why that goddamned-"

"So when're you gonna hitch up? It's not exactly respectable for a noblewoman to spend that much time with her boyfriend unescorted, yanno."

Ichigo fumed, and went to whip eggs furiously. "I already asked her brother for permission to transfer her over to my division."

"Ah… did you get a ring?"

"…yes."

"Good. She's over seventy-three actual years old now, yanno. It's about time she got married."

Ichigo blinked in surprise. "You know, I keep on forgetting that… She's always looked twenty to me."

"Make sure she keeps on looking so. She's morose enough as it is!" said Yachiru scoldingly, waving a spatula in his face.

"Heh, yes ma'am-"

A black butterfly floated by. A harbinger of troubled waters.

-----

Kenpachi laid dying.

It was an excruciating feeling, tempered by adrenaline and the remnants of white, all-consuming rage. It was also exhilarating, beautiful and fascinating.

"You're not bad," said Kali as she bandaged a singed arm. "For a brute. No finesse, no style… but damn if you aren't tough as nails."

Kenpachi grunted. It was hard to retort when he was coughing up blood every few minutes.

"Shall I put you out of your misery?" asked Kali as she stooped over the fallen, bloodstained giant. "Your hamstrings are butchered, your arms mutilated, and you still look like you want to fight. You sure you don't want it to end?"

"Go... screw yourself."

Kali glared, and shrugged. "Fin-"

Kenpachi's eyes widened as his opponent unexpectedly froze, fell to her knees and started shuddering.

The violent, erratic staccato blasts of reiatsu emanating from her was, perhaps, even more alarming.

But none of that can compare to the way she raised her head at him, teeth narrowed to razor-sharp points and the howl of a Hollow echoing from her lips.

-----

"Wait," said Gao as he stopped his brother in his tracks again. "Do you feel that?"

Reiji glared at the second interruption. "It's Kali. Looks like we're just in time."

"…she snapped? Already? But she never snaps, unless-"

"-somebody managed to injure her."

"…huh. There really are some tough guys in the Seireitai."

Reiji nodded, and glanced at the source of the reiatsu explosions. "And we're within two kilometers of Kali-san."

Gao blinked in realization, and paled. "Uh, right. Way too close. Run for it?"

"Run for it."

"Actually, you're running nowhere," said a third voice as a flash of orange and pink crisscrossed, and trapped the twins in reiatsu-enforced rope. Reiji struggled to free himself, and immediately found himself tripped onto his back, and two giant blades at his throat.

"Hell!" swore Gao as his muscles bulged against the ropes in protest. "What's the meaning of this!"

"That's my question!" snapped Yachiru as her sword, almost twice as tall as the dimunitive shinigami, pressed painfully against Reiji. "Why can't I feel Ken-chan's reiatsu anymore! What did you guys do too him?"

"We didn't do anything!" shouted Reiji. "We're trying to get away from the woman that did- GET DOWN!"

Fire and ashes. The dissonant cry of a bird far too large to be real, its voice echoing throughout the landscape and back upon itself, crashing against eardrums like a thousand glass needles.

Everything burned.

-----

Silk sleeves, singed. Pale face, marked by ashes.

"Zakari-san."

"Oi. Amaterasu. I'm dying- think I'm burning as well."

"It's too early to die. Don't you want to fight some more?"

"Meh. Of course. Kurosaki still won't relent."

"Zangetsu wouldn't mind another fight. You sure you want to die?"

"Didn't say that, did I?" Kenpachi growled as a burning limb clutched tighter, despite the pain. Blood seeped from charred flesh and down the length of his blood-red katana's hilt. "Oi, Amaterasu-sama. I think I'm gonna need some help on this one."

Dark eyelashes narrowed. Sakura-pink hair nodded.

"Live."

-----

She lacked control.

At the back of an enraged, fire-consumed mindscape, there was still Kali. A tiny portion of her, untainted despite all these eons. Most of the time, it was the one in charge, dictating orders, moving the limbs, channeling energy where it was needed most.

Most of the time.

Every once in a while, however, the dam broke. The twisted, cancerous growth in her soul stirred, and in that stirring, crushed the carefully constructed jail she's placed around it. The howl of the Hollow buried deep within her roared through and shattered her barriers like a boulder through a thin sheet of fine glass.

Only blood could sate it. Only blood drawn from flesh could stall it just long enough for her to wrest control back, however temporarily.

What remained of a lost, lonely girl, the last of her ancient tribe, wept tears of fire in the back of a monster's mind.

-----

"What the HELL was that!" yelled Ichigo through the roaring flames as Zangetsu split the gouts of flame away.

"Kali," coughed Reiji as he got off Yachiru, helping her back onto her feet as he shook loose the burnt remains of the ropes. "Our mentor. You've felt this reiatsu before, of course."

Ichigo's eyes widened, then narrowed. "You were there, when the Gilian broke through."

Gao nodded, and drew out his katars. "Reiji, what was that deal you wanted to make again?"

Reiji turned to face Ichigo. "As a Captain of the shinigami forces, you have the authority to make treaties and agreements on behalf of the Seireitai, do you not?"

"Uh- oh. …what is it that you want?"

"We turn on her. We disable her, tie her down, and lock her up. We will betray our own surrogate mother- as long as you instate us into your ranks, Kurosaki Ichigo. Also, Urahara-sama wishes to congratulate you on your upcoming wedding."

"…Kisuke has something to do with this. Great. Just bloody great!" muttered Ichigo. "Well, fine. If Urahara had something to do with this, then I really have no choice but to accept. Welcome to the fourteenth division- now get rid of that crazy bitch!"

Gao grinned as he pulled off the last of the ropes that bound him. "Interesting. It's been almost two years since we tried against her. You think you can handle it, Reiji?"

The brother snorted. "It's you I'm worried about. Rise, Winter's Moon."

"Howl, Snow Fox."

Yachiru and Ichigo covered their faces as bursts of reiatsu kicked up the ash and dust around them.

"Bring back Ken-chan!" yelled Yachiru after them. "I want Ken-chan back!"

Only the ominous roar of fire replied as the two slinked off- a moment in front of her, another disappearing amongst the flickering shades of orange red and black.


	6. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven – Lightning Break

It isn't everyday that the outskirts of the Rukongai are flooded with enough reiatsu to shake the entirety of the realm in its sheer force. In fact, in all of Soul Society's history, only once had this happen before.

Genryuusai Yamamoto remembered distinctly what that felt like.

The commanding officer of all fourteen divisions of Shinigami had led a long, long life. He was amongst the first to have lived the entirety of his existence within its bounds, and somewhere amongst the official archives there exists a worn, dusty scroll documenting a Lt. Commander Yamamoto leading the charge against a single, naturally-created Arrancar, the bright flame of his sword piercing the mockingly human demon's tendrils of solid shadow.

The scars of that battle remain bright and vivid, burning with reiatsu whenever the old, wizened warrior is forced into battle.

But it wasn't the demon that inflicted the brazen, vein-like lines upon the old man… but his commander. His captain, that day on the ancient battlefield in Rukongai.

The first Shinigami, the founder of the Seireitai… she whose sword burned with the pure rage of ten suns…

The memory was long-buried- but not so much that the first division's captain had fully forgotten. The scars along his torso, face and hands are meaningless to him- the terror of his first battle, the agony of the loss of his friends and first love… the gibbering madness left in the wake of having your trusted leader's fire slowly melt, slowly diminish as the Arrancar's great shadow bound and consumed her, and the sheer fury of her struggle tearing apart the very spiritrons of the world around her…

"Mobilize all forces," uttered Captain Yamamoto through gritted teeth. "All captains are allowed the unleashing of their Bankai. Do. Not. Let. Her. Live."

A mass of human shadows dissipated, as if struck by a beam of white-hot light.

-----

Much to the twin's surprise, the fight had begun without them.

A bare-chested Zakari Kenpachi, the wounds of his previous exertion blazing as energy leapt out to bridge the gap between his nerves, tendons, muscles and veins, swung a giant, golden fourteen-foot halberd, the half-moon scythe of the ancient Chinese pike leaving billowing trails of undying fire in its wake. The tornado of heat and fury around him frantically twisted, gouts of fire leaping out in random intervals, fed energy by Kenpachi-taichou's fully unreleased state, for the eyepatch had long burnt off in Amaterasu's great rage.

But perhaps the gouts were not so random.

Flickering here and there, just barely within the eye's ability to perceive motion, was Kali, dodging the blasts, slashing through the great column of fire and leaving yet another glowing wound upon the most frightening, most demonic of the fourteen captains of the Seireitai. As each golden wound blazed closed, another one opened in its wake, deeper and longer lasting- made jagged from her nipping bites as she healed her own wounds and insatiable hunger off his great fount of energy.

Kenpachi-taichou had found his second wind, but he was losing the war of attrition.

Then again, brute force has never won against Kali.

"Same plan as usual!" cried out Gao gaily through the roaring fire, barely shorn off of his own skin by his own radiating reiatsu, fueled by his excitement. "You distract her, I slow her down! Maybe that big guy fighting her can do the finishing touch!"

"You seem awfully happy about turning on her!" yelled back Reiji. "I would've thought you'd be a bit more loyal to her!"

"The student must surpass the master! Besides, Snowy never did like her sword!"

"Good, neither did mine! Moonlight Reflection!"

Between one instance and the next, fire had been replaced by the winter's frost.

-----

Even in Kenpachi's maddened, most bloodthirsty, most thoughtless state… even he had to blink when his halberd stopped spitting fire, and started throwing snow everywhere.

To be fair, that ice barrier that replaced the roaring column of fire was doing a better job of keeping the wild bitch off his skin… but dammit, half-naked in a column of ice is not comfortable!

Kenpachi shivered, and knocked angrily at the jagged column of ice.

"Oi! Who's out there! Who interrupted my fight-"

Crash. The taloned hand of Kali tore through, and stabbed straight through his gut.

Blink. The hand was gone, and he was mostly healed.

Blink again, and little Yachiru and the spikey, orange-haired brat was looking down on him in concern.

"Zakari-san," said Ichigo, slightly concerned. "You alright?"

"Ken-chan! Ken-chan! Don't get up!" cried out Yachiru as she knocked the much bigger man back down, angrily waving at the mass of badly-wrapped bandages around his torso. "I just got it to stop bleeding!"

"Ooph, what the hell happened?" growled Kenpachi as he grudgingly settled. "One minute, I was buried in ice, the next minute-"

"What ice? We need to get you out of here," said Ichigo. "The whole Rukongai's on fire!"

And Kenpachi finally heard it, as if cotton was pulled out of his ears. The great roaring of a distant fire… and the steely ring of blades.

-----

As twins, Gao and Reiji are similar only in appearances- comparable, in nature, to the brash, lightning-quick cheetah and the shadow-silk stealth of the panther. Both are enormous, graceful felines, predatory and capable of taking down prey much greater than themselves, but it is there that the overlaps end.

Or perhaps not.

There are certain characteristics that breed true in the feline clan. A tendency to play with their prey, for one…

Reiji's shikai ability is kidou-based- more specifically, not unlike Aizen, he is an illusion-adept. However, how their illusions are cast differ wildly. Whereas Aizen directly manipulates the senses of his intended victims, Reiji's ability is "merely" that of casting a hundred-meter radius hemisphere in which the internal environment is utterly under his domain.

Little wonder, then, why it is so difficult for a "natural" shinigami to manifest their bankai. As the secondary seal represents an increase in ability in the order of magnitudes, it would take effort truly legendary to achieve that hallowed state.

However, though under most situations, Reiji's "Moonlight Reflection" alone could win a battle, it was extremely dependent that the opponent be somewhere within striking range of his own power level.

Outside of a certain limit, and its effectiveness decreases steadily. With Kali, he then has a fifteen second window to utilize the Moonbeam- his shikai's secondary ability. Compressing all the energy within his bubble of existence, Reiji then has a single, all-out attack- usually fatal, even against the toughest denizens of the afterlife. Unfortunately, the straightforward shot is easy to see coming- and for Kali, easier yet to dodge, making it suicidal at best.

Reiji, however, rarely fights alone. That fifteen-second time frame is more than enough for his brother, Gao, to play with.

The bright, glowing sapphire blades of Gao's katars- Indian punch-daggers, usually triangular and balanced in shape, though in this case, with its outer edge sweeping a good foot downwards to a thin point- leaves trails of ice in its wake when activated. The powerful ice-based close-range weapon makes up for its short range with sheer lethality- if willed, every connecting blow against it causes a massive surge of spear-sharp ice to burst forth almost immediately from that one infinitesimal point, either shattering the opponent's weapon, arm… or body. Probably the only reason why Gao does not make constant use of it is that the sheer force of the ice-explosion is a dual-edged sword. Though it bursts away from him, it also knocks him away from the opponent, making it more ideal as a finishing technique.

It's also not powerful enough to stop Kali.

Flashes spark as dense ice scraped against the molten-silver wings extending off Kali's arms- sparks that turned to blue fire as her rage roared through, shattering the minor impediment. Gao was pushed back- and jumped barely in time as scalpel-thin edges soared past his throat in a rushing hiss of wind and fire.

"You're not distracting her enough!" yelled Gao as a timely burst of snow and wind intersected the two. "I can't get in close enough!"

"You're the one that's supposed to distract her," said a voice at his ears. "Now hurry up- the sphere integrity's thinning again. Her reiatsu's still too strong."

"Just one more burst- think you can manage a tornado?"

"Will do."

"Right. Snow Fox, ROAR!"

Reiatsu mingled and surged as what should have been a burst of jagged icicles instead turned into a near-solid storm of razors, all bearing down on the twisted, demonic facsimile of their mentor. Flames leapt out from her shikai's wingtips, taking the form of a thousand fanged mouths as it attempted to engulf the dense hail.

And in that moment, a flash of white light seared across Kali's torso.

"Drain complete!" snarled Gao. "NOW!"

Ice turned to fire. A snowy hillside turned back into the inferno caused by Kali and Zakari's earlier exertions.

And Kali was encased in a shimmering nimbus of blue light, tethered to the bloodstained edge of Gao's punching dagger.

This was the Snow Fox shikai's secondary ability- arguably the ultimate extension of the ice-based abilities of any soul slayer. In a single, short-ranged strike, and a significant sacrifice of his own reiatsu, the enemy was left helpless, drained of his or her speed, power and strength. Time itself froze for the Snow Fox's victim, leaving them plenty of relative time to experience the dread of their own demise.

"Get out of the way, Gao. Moonbeam."

Whatever was controlling Kali howled angrily as the blast of white light reached out at it, each passing second of its relative time spelling out its first defeat in eons. Its shriek of defiance only stopped when the searing blast tore out its vocal chords- and by then, the nerves of its body had been deadened to the point that it didn't even feel the hand grabbing it roughly by the shoulders, and tearing it away into the darkness beyond.

The light faded, and all that remained were ashes, and a single, silver feather.

Gao picked the feather up, and the brothers walked off, relief and guilt etched into both identical faces.

In the distance, eyes of silver gleamed.

PART ONE – REBELLION

STATUS – COMPLETE


	7. Intermission Alpha

Intermission – Pause Between Breathes

University coursework, no matter what the realm, is universally despised. It is, as all but the professors agree, mere busywork- unimportant and far from beneficial, as it distracts one from the truly important things in life: namely alcohol, women and a good fight or two.

There are thus, understandably, very few graduate students in the Eleventh Division's history, with the most current active ones being Ayasegawa Yumichika- and surprisingly, Madarame Ikkaku.

However, the current crop of would-be graduates seem to be a fair sign that the Seireitai is easily well on its way of recovering from the continuous war with Aizen- a war that, for a while, it had been losing. All the Captaincy's been filled to the point that yet another additional division- the Fifteenth, under Abarai Renji, is especially popular, as those too violence-prone to join the Sixth, yet rather, ah, temperamentally unfitting for the Eleventh tend to gravitate either around the red-headed Shinigami, or Kurosaki-taichou- and with the war's casualties, reaving innocents of family members, there have been plenty of the sort coming out of the woodworks.

It's been jokingly said that it's impossible to turn a corner in the University without running into a tattooed face or shock of bleached hair… or a fight on the verge of exploding.

Oddly enough, however, the fight about to start now involves not a clash of fanboyism for either of the two captains… but over a muffin.

"Oy, I'm still waiting for that apology," snarled Gao into the face of a much, much taller shinigami apprentice. "As well as another muffin!"

The perpetrator of the muffin's untimely fall from grace- straight into the bushes outside of the school- took one glance at Gao's weapons, another at his own, the size of a European broadsword, and sneered. "Why, are you gonna make me? What is that- a kitchen knife? It's puny! I can't believe they let weaklings like you into Seireitai's most prestigious- erk!"

"And now I want you to apologize to Yuki-chan!" yelled Gao as he slammed a knee into the student's abdomen and lifted, driving him fifty feet into the air. "C'mon! Draw your overgrown slab of metal, ya ape!"

"Can't you go and calm down your brother?" asked a blue-haired girl nervously as she nudged Reiji. "H-he's scaring me…"

Reiji shrugged, and bit into his own muffin. "Iwate-sempai was asking for it. Kusajika-fukutaichou made these for us, after all."

"B-but he's going to kill him!"

"Naw. Gao's got more control than-"

A sudden dust cloud, and shrieks of fear and pain.

"…"

"…right. I'll go calm him down."

-----

"She came back last night, right? You two had sex, right? I'm gonna be a grandpa now, right? Ichi-kun! Iiiiccchhhiii-kkkuuu-"

A shinigami with slowly graying hair found his face on a collision course with a bowl of ramen.

"Dad, shaddup and eat your lunch," growled Ichigo as he chewed somewhat angrily on a piece of tendon. "You're attracting attention."

Actually, that was mostly a lie. The father/son duo've visited this restaurant often enough that the regulars weren't phased by the elder Kurosaki's more eccentric behavior.

They still had to pay for property damage, though.

"But I want grraaaandchiiiillldddrreeen!" whined Isshin, completely ignoring how cold his soup was getting around his scraggly beard. "And your sisters' boyfriends aren't even making moves on-"

"They better not be. I had Ishida-san promise to reduce them to eunuchs if they did."

"IIICCHHIII-KKKUUUN!"

"Oi, oi, sorry I'm late," said Rukia as she entered the noodle shop, a pile of folders in her arm. "The doctor was late for the appointment and-"

"Rukia-chan! You're pregnan-"

"Don't finish that word," said the couple as two elbows found their way under Isshin's chin with a sharp double-crack.

"Anyhow, it wasn't that kind of appointment," said Rukia. "It was, erm… none of your business. So what's on the menu this month?"

"Whoa, hold on there," said Ichigo, raising an eyebrow. "It sure as hell is my business. What's wrong?"

"Yay! You're pregnant! You're-" started Isshin- and promptly got his face buried in his ramen bowl. Again.

Rukia glared at the elder Kurosaki, and let him raise his head enough to draw breath. She turned the glare to Ichigo, and whispered into his ear.

"An yeast- ow! Ow! Alright, none of my business!" said Ichigo, frantically trying to free his ear from a vise grip. "Ow, dammit- what're those folders then?"

Rukia smiled suddenly.

"…oh crap." Ichigo's face paled, and he tried to back away- only to be tripped and pinned to the floor by his short, lithe, and astoundingly fast wife.

"They're your paperwork this month, husband."

-----

The thing about being an Arrancar is that, even amongst equals, you're dreadfully alone. The sword you carry holds but yourself in it. The people around you wouldn't even hesitate before killing you, if they could get away with it.

And that went double for Aizen and his two trusted assistants.

So it didn't really come as a surprise to Yon-Sen when a blade appeared, embedded in his torso. What was surprising was how he woke up, hours later, his power and mind slowly being consumed by a psychic monster.

A great, disembodied howl emanated from the dark cellar of a tower in the middle of literally Nowhere. It was the despair of a soul that've tasted its doom- that have seen the face of perpetual oblivion, and could not look away.

Even hermitage is better than being stripped of your Self.

Blood-stained fangs glittered in the dark. Kali was healing.

-----

Nighttime. Shadows. Rest. Slumber.

Not tonight. Not for Gao and Renji. Slumber can wait- rest… in a way, this was rest. A rest from the drudgery of schoolwork- of memorizing complicated spells and ho-humming over the swordplay test of the next day. They can beat their instructors bloody while half-asleep and without breaking a sweat- and their instructors know this all too well.

But all that stuff was done under the glaring light of the day's sun. When the moon was out, and all was shrouded in a veil of shadows and translucent moonlight…

"Psst. You ready?" said Gao, poking a girl of dark, cobalt-blue hair awake, completely ignoring the rules about guys trespassing upon the girls' dorms.

"zz-huh? Oh! Dammit, hold on. Lemme get my stuff," said Yukina Takahashi- Gao's current girlfriend, and as of yet, the longest lasting by two weeks. She poked her roommate, breathed a little easier when the other just grumbled and rolled over, and flipped over a floor panel, grabbing her sword.

"You sure you want to do this?" inquired Gao as he leaned precariously backwards, ready to leap off the dorm's window frame. "Things could get… dangerous, sometimes."

"Oh stuff it. Raienko's been pestering me all week."

Gao snickered. "I still think it's no coincidence that your sword's true form supposedly looks like-"

Even with all the experience he's got under his belt, Gao still gulped when the tip a zanpakuto's threatening to remove his adam's apple.

"Er… right. Shutting up."

Almost an hour later, Yukina fell to her knees, gasping for breath as Gao tapped on the head of a napping Reiji. They were far outside in the Rukongai- and Gao's quick pace had exhausted her.

"Huh? Oh, you two're finally here," said Reiji, rubbing an eye. "Was wondering if I shouldn't have brought along a blanket and pillow.

"Har har," said Gao. "Sorry, she's not quite used to the pace yet."

"Well, that's why we offered her extra training, isn't it?"

"Just… give me… a second," said Yukina as she leaned on her sword. "I'll… be okay soon."

She leapt up in fright as the shrill roar of an airborne Hollow, descending upon them, broke the night's silence.

Gao grinned, a feral appearance highlighted by teeth that seemed sharpened in the moonlight. "Training time, Yuki-chan. Training time…"

One shrill turned numerous. The nest had been disturbed.

"And there's plenty to go around," said Reiji, his expression- and, indeed, everything between the twins- mirroring Gao's perfectly.

When Yukina met their eyes, it was with both fear and awe. Perfect silver spheres, looking at nothing, but seeing everything.

Kali's touch. As was the raging reiatsu leaking out from their bodies.

The brothers hunt tonight.


	8. Chapter 9

Chapter Eight – Heartbeat Imbalance

Finals week in the Seireitai's graduate school isn't just harrowing.

Downright horrifying would be a better description.

Mind, nobody has ever actually died during these things- not for the last two hundred and fifty years, and even then, that was mainly because the poor idiot overestimated his ability and leapt off the roof of the building. Not enough reiatsu equals one flat shinigami trainee.

But it's still bad enough for most. Never mind the fact that a couple dozen freshly caught, and especially incensed, Hollows're running around- you're also fresh prey for the other team!

Even with the promise that any murders'll be far, far worse than punished, it wasn't fully reassuring to the would-be graduates. Any enemy you made over the semesters… well… at least you haven't made an enemy of the Twins.

Right?

…oh you poor fool.

-----

"You know," said Gao. "This is really way too easy. Why wouldn't they give us that exception?"

Reiji shrugged, and tossed another high-velocity pebble at another poor trainee's head- then another, far faster one straight through the brain casing of a Hollow that reached for it. "They want to make sure we haven't gotten rusty, I suppose."

"Hell, if they wanted to know that, why didn't they get Kuchiki-taichou to fight us?"

Reiji gave his brother a raised eyebrow. "Kuchiki-taichou? Mr. Thousand-Razor-Petals? C'mon."

"What? It's not as if you can't just Beam right through the slivers."

"Yeah, but what about you? Ice blasts isn't going to stop a three-sixty degree attack."

"Huh. True. Komamura-taichou, then."

"…maybe. But old fox-head's got about the sheer stamina of Zakari-taichou. And both of them can knock us out the very moment we make the mistake of letting them touch us."

"Ye-ouch. Yeah. My head's sore from just remembering."

Reiji grinned. "It's not like we can even beat Ikkaku-san yet. Let's face it- anybody who doesn't have bankai has an edge on us."

Gao grumbled. "And none of the vice captains- not even Yachiru-chan- are much of a match for us."

"Eh. Speak for yourself. Yachiru nicked me up pretty good the last time we sparred."

"You still beated her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't exactly easy…"

Gao snickered as he tripped the shinigami trying to sneak up on them, ignoring the yelp of surprise and crashing fall to the courtyard below.

"He still alive?" asked Reiji, barely interested.

"Yeah. Just stunned."

-----

Shugo Iwate had a plan. A devious plan. A carefully calibrated mix of vengeance, cunning and stealth.

The little pinprick that made a fool of him back in Freshman year was going to PAY.

Iwate was, despite his occasional slips into megalomania and arrogance, a fairly competent shinigami. Though it is doubtful he will ever become a Vice-Captain, his skill in kidou was impressive- and, in fact, was what distinguished him from his classmates. He's even devised a unique spell- a cunning trick that had astounded his teacher, impressed his classmates… and what ultimately caused his embarrassment, as the week following, his ego had gotten so big it bothered Gao.

But now, he could use that trick against the more aggravating- more muleheaded- of the damned twins.

Iwate of the Illusions. A self-given title, yes, but a fitting one. Even the Hollows are leaving him alone, unable to penetrate the thick veil he's covered himself with.

They don't attack their own, after all. Right?

The roar of a Hollow, half-dying as it sought shelter against an unusually cunning trio of shinigami. It charged into the same alley as Iwate- and stopped at the sight of what appeared to be its kin.

Iwate shrugged. It wasn't going to attack.

Growling.

…it couldn't possibly want to attack! He was unwounded! He was greater in size!

The Hollow approached, fangs bared in a snarl.

…crap.

-----

"Huh. That sounded very much like Iwate screaming like a girl," said Gao.

"I think it really was Iwate-san screaming," said Reiji as he got up and gave a quizzical glance at the direction of the noise. "But I only sense two Hollows."

"Bah. He's in trouble," said Gao as he reluctantly got up himself and stretched with a yawn. "He's got that illusion kidou worked out, remember?"

"Ah, the one even captains have to actually try to penetrate. He's in trouble, that idiot."

"When isn't that clumsy oaf? Nonetheless, Mayuri-taichou's got an interest in him. Best to stay on the captains' good side."

Reiji shuddered. "That's one captain I hope I don't get stuck with- even Fong-taichou's a heaven-sent in comparison."

"Heh. She's cuter, at least- or, she would be if she lightened up."

"…see, now you're starting to scare me too. Now let's stop chatting and actually rack up some points with the observers."

The laugh of hunters; the scent of prey heavy in the air. It was not only the Hollows that sought blood tonight.

-----

"Iwate Shugo, I believe," murmured the First Division's vice captain as he peered through a light set of binoculars at the frenzied activities of the courtyard. "He's attracted the attention of the most powerful one we caught."

"Tsk, he's out of his league," muttered Renji. "The boy's inept with the sword, and he's been focusing too much on that experimental kidou of his. Looks like I better go and rescue him- and disqualify him from this year's graduates to boot. Dammit."

"I wouldn't go just yet…"

-----

"Ohgodohgodohgod," squeaked a very un-hollow voice from what appeared to be a towering demon just short of a Menos Grande by a few feet- to anybody else with a low enough spiritual pressure, anyhow. The Hollow, however, saw instead the outline of a shinigami in its bulk- and the scent of blood. Fresh blood, laced with the heavenly scent of fear.

It lunged. The prey screamed, sending the demon's roiling blood to boiling with anticipating as its jagged claws smashed down on the shinigami.

Well, tried.

"Oi! Iwate-san, getcher ass outta here!" yelled Gao as, with a mighty grunt, he pushed back at the Hollow's enormous hand. "Rei-kun, they brought in a good one!"

"Really? Maybe this final exam won't be so boring after all," said Reiji as he calmly landed on the roof, eyeing the situation from above. "Hey, Gao, watch out for that spiked tail of-"

"Bastard!" yelled Gao as he barely leapt out of the way of a scorpion's tail as it smashed through the stone and dirt. "It didn't have that before!"

"Looks like somebody lobbed it off earlier. Regenerates, eh?" A flicker of motion- and the tail flailed off, blood splattering the walls of the alleyway. The great beast roared in pain and fury as it lashed out at the other brother- its blind wrath missing him by whole feet.

"Nice shunpo there," said Gao, a laugh tracing the edge of his compliments. "My turn!"

Even as a human, Gao's swordplay was always just slightly worse than his brother's- more forceful, more erratic, and less disciplined. He won his matches not through the virtue of well-timed blows, but because, well, of his sheer speed. And force. Dozens of wrists have been bruised- and at least two have been broken- by the sheer muster he can put behind a killing swing. And for every wrist, at least three shinai've shattered into a thousand fragments. He eventually learned to control his force, but there it was- of the two brothers, Gao was the more volcanic.

So, naturally, when Kali helped him construct his zanpakutou, it didn't take the form of a sword, but something more fitting for his latent style- punch-daggers. Katars. Hand-to-hand weapons, and utterly suited for his temper.

Gao moved so quickly, a stranger would believe he had mastered shunpo. A flicker here- a talon fell, clattering to the floor. Another flicker- the beast roared in pain as an eye was stabbed out, falling to the ground in a messy goop. Another flicker- two- three- and the regenerating tail, and all remaining legs collapsed. Gao stopped, grinned over his prey just before he raised his right hand to deliver the killing blow-

-and looked shocked as a blazing white line seared through his chest.

He stood there, shock and bewilderment locking him down for the first time in his afterlife. Knees buckled- one slammed into the ground- the pain didn't register. A trembling hand touched the hole- blood pulsed out in rivulets, perfectly synchronized with the heavy lurching of his adrenaline-fueled heart.

The darkening light of twilight grew dimmer yet.

"Gao!" yelled Reiji as he slashed off a regenerated stinger, and killed the Hollow at last. "Gao- kami-sama, that _bastard_…"

Eyes of white hate met each other.

"You son of a whore- why did you do that?" yelled Reiji as he tore a sleeve to tatter, and tried vainly to stop the flow of blood. "He saved you, you ungrateful bastard- HELP! ANYBODY OUT THERE!"

Futile. They could barely hear the roars and screams of fear and bloodlust outside of the alleyway. The odds were against anybody within earshot.

"He's… he's always taken my glory," muttered Shugo. "Always taken the limelight. I should've been the big man on campus. I should've been first in our class, not that f-fucking ryoka. I didn't need his help- he didn't save me- he-"

A flicker- not shunpo, but madness-driven speed. The front of Shugo's shirt was gripped in a vise so tight steel would've buckled. The treacherous student was slammed against the stone wall of the alleyway- slammed so hard, his shoulder blades shattered, and a crater formed.

"Listen, you bastard," hissed Reiji through gritted teeth. "If my brother dies, he will not reincarnate alone- I will hunt both of you down, to remind him of his afterlife, and to remind him of you. And when we both find you, we will tear your soul to pieces and feed them to the hounds of Hell itself. You don't believe me? You want to know how to find Hell? I know the way, Iwate Shugo- I know exactly how to cause a soul the most harm- where to cut and how deeply to send your nerves aflame. If he dies, I will make a sacrifice to him that will be whispered amongst the Seireitai for eons after your passing into the next-"

"That's enough."

A hand roughly clasped Reiji's shoulders, restraining him. Reiji twisted around, a snarl on his lips freezing at the sight of Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-taichou, this man-"

"Wounded your brother, and he will be dealt with accordingly. You are not, however, judge, jury or executioner- not yet. Your brother will be alright."

And, indeed, at the first sign of trouble, the captains had moved in. Already, a healing salve had been applied at both ends of Gao's wound, stopping the flow of blood and seeping through his body, replacing lost flesh, severed tendons, snapped neurons. He was weakened- desperately weakened- but still alive.

Nobody dies during the finals. Not if they keep a cool head, and stick to their lessons.

Sometimes, though, its consequences can be quite lethal.

-----

Two full weeks had passed. Gao was, officially, fully recovered, and considering their mutual abilities, both brothers were immediately instated as third chairs of Division Three, with Gao under Abarai-taichou, and Division Ten, Reiji under Hitsugaya-taichou.

Ayasegawa Yumichika, the third division's vice captain, couldn't be more disappointed- though he was certainly more… feminine than his fellow cohorts in his previous division, he shared their lust for battle.

And Gao hasn't challenged him once for the vice captaincy.

In fact, for two weeks straight, the only person Gao would talk to was either his division superiors, or his twin brother. No fights- no call-outs amongst his old compatriots, the ruffians that routinely trashed the academy's gym quite by accident. Never mind the fact that Iwate Shugo had been punished quite well- stripped of his spiritual powers and banished into the darkest suburbs of the Rukongai. Never mind the fact that both he and his brother had been commended for their actions in attempting to save the life of a classmate.

When that bolt of kidou lightning smashed through his chest, it shattered something inside of him- and all his energy now was spent trying to hold back the flood.

His captain- and his brother and his brother's captain- was aware of his struggles. For the captains, perhaps imperfectly- but what they couldn't understand, they could turn to an equal to inquire.

Amongst the legendary powers of the Seireitai, only one captain had broached the barrier between Hollow and Shinigami and lived- one who had touched that gray land of suffocating madness.

Kurosaki Ichigo knew exactly what it was like to live with the voice and hunger of a Hollow whispering madness into one's ear.

Fire burned within Gao.


End file.
